Search for Life
in the Solar System and Beyond
Abstract
This visual story takes a general audience to appreciate the extraordinary fortune of finding life in the universe. For a more immersive experience, try reading in Morgan Freeman’s voice.
A world of extremes
To understand our Solar System can be quite challenging. For starters, our Solar System is huge. The Solar System is so big that kilometers are not very useful anymore. For the rest of our journey, we will be measuring distances with help of the speed of light (aprox 300.000 km/s)
If we try to compare planets, we have to observe multiple dimensions simulatenously. For example, temperatures, distances or densities that are unique on every planet. This would require different magnitudes that are incompatible with eachother (°C, Km, …).
These measurements are very different from planet to planet. If we tried to represent the planets with their real proportions, it would be impossible for your screen to show everything. For this, it is more useful to create “planet signatures”.
As you can see in Figure 2, signatures are unique for each planet and based on normalised data. This way we can compare dimensions like millions of kilograms and other extreme measurements, even if we have one huge planet compared to a tiny moon.
Earth, a dwarf planet
Earth is stricktly speaking, a dwarf-planet. Jupiter is more than twice as massive than the other planets of our solar system combined. (Laboratory 2023)
Mercury is still shrinking
Mercury is already the smallest planet in the solar system and it’s only getting smaller and denser. (Vicky Stein 2022)
Venus is too hot
Venus’ thick atmosphere traps heat creating a runaway greenhouse effect. (Vicky Stein 2022)
Every planet is unique on its own way. Planets can be made of rock, metal, gas,… each with different densities. We believe that over millions of years, the Sun has attracted the heaviest particles on its way. As a result, we find small, heavy planets near the Sun, while the less dense and gigantic can be found on the edges of the solar system.
Planets may also have moons, rings or asteroids belts. In some planets rain is water, while in other it rains diamonts or molten metal! But the most special and rarest of all possible outcomes, is life!
Life is so unlikely that it is almost considered accidental.
Earth is a comfortable place for life
The only planet known to contain life is Earth. Life is the result of many improbably coincidences. The most remarkable is its distance from the Sun. This makes possible to find water just at the right temperature for life to thrive.
Our neighbours Mars and Venus, are a few “minutes” too close or far from the Sun. Mars’ water is permanently frozen, while Venus is hotter than a steamer pot.
Water world
There is water everywhere in the universe. However, it has to be liquid to sustain life (Vicky Stein 2022)
Backward Stinky Sunrise
Venus rotates backward on its axis, opposite to most planets in our solar system. Its sulfuric atmosphere smells like rotten eggs! (Lunar and Institute 2023)
Organic molecules are everywhere
Organics are complex carbon-based molecules found in living things, but which can be created by non-biological processes too (Vicky Stein 2022)
Supersonic winds!
Winds on Neptune can blow up to 1,500 miles per hour (2,400 km/h). Is all that energy coming from the sun, from the planet’s core, or gravitational contraction? Researchers are working to find out. (Vicky Stein 2022)
There are many other factors to enable life, and each of them is required. A little bit too much radiation and you are fried. Decrease the gravity and the athmospere would disolve. Even the slightest change in the polarity of Earth’s core and a solar storm would put and end to life.
This makes us the luckiest tenants in the solar system. But, how about beyond the Solar System? The so-called “Exoplanets”, are they “Earth-like”?
Jannik START HERE
Data, tools and inspiration:
- Planets data (Banerjee 2022)
- Planets data 2 (Lunar and Institute 2003)
- Radar charts (Libraries 2022)
- Multiplots in plotly (RenaudLN, n.d.)
- Comparing Planet Volumes (polsci 2021)
- One level packed Circle (“Basic Circle Packing Chart” 2022)
References
Banerjee, Sourav. 2022. “Planet Dataset.” https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/iamsouravbanerjee/planet-dataset.
“Basic Circle Packing Chart.” 2022. https://www.python-graph-gallery.com/circular-packing-1-level-hierarchy/.
Laboratory, NASAs Jet Propulsion. 2023. “Planets in Our Solar System.” NASA. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/overview/.
Libraries, Plotly Graphing. 2022. “Radar Charts in Python.” https://plotly.com/python/radar-chart/.
Lunar, and Planetary Institute. 2003. “Solar System Sizes.” NASA. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/686/solar-system-sizes.
———. 2023. “0 Need-to-Know Things about Venus.” NASA. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/venus/overview/.
polsci. 2021. “Packed Circle Graph with Circlify, Matplotlib and Plotly.” https://gist.github.com/polsci/d9ecd38934f690ded5cd6ca061359814.
RenaudLN. n.d. “How to Subplot Radar Charts with 2 Traces Each.” https://community.plotly.com/t/how-to-subplot-radar-charts-with-2-traces-each/64440/2.
Vicky Stein, Elizabeth Howell. 2022. “25 Weird and Wild Solar System Facts.” Future US Inc. https://www.space.com/35695-weirdest-solar-system-facts.html.